When Ryback attacked John Cena, the already-wild crowd came absolutely unglued on WWE Raw. If that was supposed to be a heel turn on Ryback’s part, the fans are still 100% behind him. It is painfully obvious that once again, John Cena is going to be shoved down our throats despite his increasingly mixed reactions. My question is, should the WWE embrace his status as a tweener? Booking a tweener in any other instance would probably not work, but the WWE’s hand is forced on this one. I think the general consensus is that Cena will remain untouchable, but to the crowd, he’s expendable. Should the WWE blur the lines with him?

John Cena is already a tweener as WWE constantly acknowledges the split crowd reactions and bill him as the WWE Superstar that garners a reaction like no one else is capable of getting. We've all fantasized about an all-out heel turn for Cena but it just isn't going to happen (at least not anytime soon). This program with Ryback is supposed to turn Ryback heel as he's been pushing for it for months. What I don't get, and what I think a lot of fans are giving a pass, is the fact Ryback went under to Mark Henry at Wrestlemania yet is now challenging for the WWE Championship. Am I the only one that feels this makes no sense? Ryback couldn't beat Punk at Hell in a Cell, he couldn't beat Punk or Cena at Survivor Series, he was winless against The Shield, jobbed to Mark Henry and now we're supposed to buy him as a viable contender at Extreme Rules? It's going to be interesting to follow because Ryback is over as a babyface despite the fact he's accomplished nothing in terms of wins in WWE.

Is it just me or do Jack Swagger's promos seem racist?

The entire point of the Jack Swagger/Zeb Colter gimmick is to over-accentuate the Tea Party movement in the United States, presenting Colter and Swagger as xenophobic/borderline racists that are intolerable to anyone different to them. It's meant to spark controversy and outrage and did early on. The gimmick has lost steam but the connotations you are asking about are what is intended.

Why didn't WWE have Alberto Del Rio drop the World Heavyweight Championship to Dolph Ziggler at Wrestlemania instead of on Raw the following night?

I can't explain WWE's decision to delay Dolph Ziggler "cashing in" the Money in the Bank briefcase but we can speculate it was done to throw people off. One thing Ziggler was asked in media interviews throughout last week and into the weekend was if he would be "cashing in" at Wrestlemania. Ziggler continued to talk about it, making many feel like because it was such a talking point that WWE wouldn't do it to avoid the obvious. We can also talk about how Wrestlemania was already overbooked and there wouldn't have been time to do it. Another point worthy of discussion would be how much WWE benefitted from delaying it because not only did they avoid the obvious but they were able to utilize the ultra hot crowd at Raw. With all this being said would Dolph Ziggler be able to escape the week of TVs as World Heavyweight Champion? We have full Smackdown taping results online at this link.

Considering how well The Undertaker appeared and performed in his match at Wrestlemania 29 do you see him wrestling any further events this year, perhaps as part of a tag team against the Shield at Extreme Rules?

Despite the tease on this week's Raw, as of this writing, Undertaker is not in the plans for Extreme Rules next month. Things are always subject to change and we never say never in this business but WWE did what they did on Raw to keep people talking. Undertaker surprised me at Wrestlemania 29. Not only did he appear in better shape than he looked to be at the WWE live event back in February but he proved he hasn't "lost a step" and is still capable of headlining major WWE pay-per-views. I'm almost "ashamed of myself" for doubting him and pushing for WWE to put CM Punk over and end the streak. I honestly had no idea he had that much left in the tank and he absolutely has more matches left in him.

Remember questions with proper spelling and grammar standing the best chance of getting answered. The next installment of Ask WNW is scheduled to run on Thursday, April 11, 2013.

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Nick

I was going to ask this question to Richard but figured I post it here. What made that crowd so hot? Why don’t we get that week in and week out? I was watching replays of Zigglers cash in and I noticed viewers comments saying that the crowd wasn’t a New Jersey crowd, but a international and “smark” filled crowd.

John

It’s because all the fans that travelled to WrestleMania usually always stay for RAW the following night. Last weeks RAW after WM was similar to this weeks RAW, if not even hotter.

Having said that, the crowd used to be this hot every week during the attitude era but times have changed i guess.

The Dolph Ziggler cash in on this week’s Raw really shouldn’t be too surprising, well, at least for me, because I predicted it in The Fine Line that Kendra and I write weekly.

One of the questions asked what we would do for the Raw after Wrestlemania and I put my booking powers into full gear. One thing I was very clear on was how I wanted to push Dolph Ziggler and his two “buddies”. I wanted to give Dolph a big push for awhile now and I felt like this would be the perfect time. Wrestlemania is over and it’s time for a new star to rise. I wrote that I would have Dolph cash-in on the World Title and win. That is what he did.

One guy who was a tweener throughout most of his career was Stone Cold Steve Austin, he proved that being in the border between good and bad was cool. Perhaps Cena needs to be this way in order to be more interesting. I’ve said before, Although it would be a sight for sore eyes to witness a Cena HEEL (not heal) turn, all his character needs is to get out of this “Superman over-come-all-odds, never ending push that he’s been on for the last 8 years! In the first two years after he became wwe champion for the first time, it was cool to see that but not year after year after year after year! It gets tiring and boring! I know I’m not alone in this when I say it just boggles my mind that Cena gets booed, chewed up and spit out and yet he continues to kiss every single fans’ asses like they worship him. Austin was so cool cuz he didn’t ask for your approval, he just went out there and was himself and raised hell on anybody didn’t matter who it was as we all cheered him! Cena likes to say he’s being himself but I doubt it! He’s a company guy, he’s doing what Vince wants him to do! I really do hope when HHH takes over he will change this!

Marc

R.E the Zeb Colter question
Richard is the pope catholic?

Marc

Is it just me or is the Pope a Catholic?

monty

undertaker vs punk was such a great match, and this year it wasn’t all about finishers, what i liked was how fast paced the match itself was. After watching it i felt like match last for 5-6 minutes when in reality it last a lot longer

i still don’t get why WWE/Vince/HHH don’t see the benefit of having taker main event, because after his matches crowd dies down. Taker has become wrestlemania without ever being involved in a title match in last 4-5 years

i still want to see sting vs taker, we saw hogan vs rock now sting v taker is my dream match up

going forward expect more part timers to be involved in each year’s WM, next year maybe Stone cold,RVD,Sting etc,

these full timers have whole year t step their game up but they don’t and when a part timer comes back and gets the company better ratings and better revenue than some of these full time wrestlers have problem. its said in a way that these old timers who left can come back and get better results th

Razmos

They are billing undertaker, sheamus and orton for uk smackdown against the shield

A cash in at Wrestlemania may have gotten lost in the mix with the 3 main events. Having Ziggler cash in on Raw reminds the fans that anything can happen at these shows. Maybe it gives Raw and Smackdown a little ratings boost.

John

The Swagger/Colter angle was excellent at the beginning, then the mainstream media began to report on it, & Vince got scared and backed off the storyline, which completely killed Swagger’s momentum!

tomcatjerrymouse

John cena has never been a tweener just because 50% of the fans are with him and 50% of the fans are against him. With Steve Austin it was different because he was a heel. With faces it’s different. Cena always sucked up to his haters. But if he continues to react to his haters the way he is now than you could say he’s a tweener. The problem here is if Ryback does turn heel than Cena will probably go back to the way he was.

As for Ryback, this main event push won’t help him a bit because it only means at least two or three more ppv losses on his resume.

Lrgetrout9

And there’s the turn I predicted when you started pushing Punk so hard to go over Taker Richard.

pow

Richard slagging Ryback off again.Oh dear god change your record.

Smart Mark

Richard, your statement about Ryback is funny because, CM Punk lost the WWE title to the Rock and then lost to him again. He lost once again to Cena on RAW and you still found him to be a liable contender to beat the Undertakers streak?

Anthony

I do not believe that Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter are racist but i could be wrong.